Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed
Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed is the twelfth episode of VeggieTales. Plot The story begins in the great city of Bumblyburg, where Percy and Lil' Pea are walking home from the local movie theater after watching "The Pecking." As they walk home, a shady character follows them. At the end of a curb, the shady character catches up with the two peas and it turns out to be the Milk Money Bandit (Scallion #3), who demands that the boys hand over their milk money and walks on a nearby roof top. On the roof top, the Milk Money Bandit is cornered by a mysterious figure. The figure turns out to be none other than Larry-Boy. He uses one of his super-suction ears to take the bandit and shake all the money out of him to give back to the boys. He then takes the bandit and drops him into Scooter's police car to be taken to jail. On a rooftop, Larry-Boy is talking with Alfred and accidentally knocks over a potted plant over a phone cable. As the plant is being electrified, a woman is talking on the phone talking about some rumors and the plant falls in a sewer. Back on the building, Larry-Boy tells Alfred goodnight and resumes looking over the city. Back in the sewer, the plant comes to life and smiles. The next morning, Alfred comes to the Veggie Valley Grade School to volunteer for Dad Asparagus' class and tell the students stories. Dad Asparagus asks if Alfred would like to stay a little longer, but Alfred says that he needs to go home and "recharge his batteries." Hearing this gets Junior Asparagus and Laura Carrot confused. On their way home, the two friends talk about why Alfred would say something so odd. Junior says that he has a toy robot with rechargeable batteries. Laura and Junior then become shocked after thinking that Alfred is a robot. As they talk, a voice speaks up about what they're talking about. The voice belongs to a talking female weed with snazzy pink sunglasses, yellow hair, and red lipstick. The children tell the weed that Alfred could possibly be a robot. She then promises to the kids that she will keep their secret and not tell a soul. Meanwhile, in Percy Pea's backyard, the weed gets in the backyard and tells Percy that Alfred is a robot. Later, the weed moves to Mr. Nezzer's backyard to tell him that Alfred is a robot. Soon, rumors of Alfred being a robot spread all over town. Back at the Larry-mansion, Larry and Alfred are in the garden looking a petunia. Soon the phone rings and Alfred runs in the mansion to answer it. Soon, the weed pops in the garden to tell Larry about Alfred. But before she can speak, Alfred calls Larry into the mansion. In the mansion, Larry gets on the phone and speaks to the Mayor of Bumblyburg (Madame Blueberry). On the phone, Larry learns that there are not one, but many weeds all over Bumblyburg spreading rumors about Alfred. Larry responds by sending in Larry-Boy to help. Larry turns into Larry-Boy and heads to Mr. Nezzer's backyard to take out a weed staying there. At the backyard, Larry uses multiple gardening tools to take out the weed, but the weed stands its ground and is unharmed. Alfred then has Larry-Boy use one of his super-suction ears to analyze the weed. After analyzing the weed, the weed uses its surprising strength to hold down Larry-Boy. After escaping her clutches, Larry-Boy comes back to the Larry-cave to see Alfred's analysis on the weed. According to a satellite view of the weeds all over Bumblyburg, Alfred concludes that the weeds don't run on the suns energy as they should, but rather something else. Larry-Boy then accidentally bumps into the satellite control stick. Once the control was bumped, the satellite begins an underground view of the city. The image on the computer shows a big green image. The image turns out to be the Mother Weed. Alfred then sends an unprepared Larry-Boy to deal with the Mother Weed and kill it before it gets any bigger. As Larry-Boy drives in his Larry-mobile, Alfred tells him to activate the Larry-plane. Once in the air, Alfred tells Larry-Boy to shut off the wings and activate the drilling mode on the Larry-mobile. As the Larry-mobile falls to the ground with the drill activated, Alfred tells Larry-Boy to head to the Mother Weed's main location. Once in the sewers, Larry-Boy loses contact with Alfred due to the sewer's strong brick walls blocking the radio transmission, leaving him no way to take out the mother weed. Alfred then gets on his scooter and goes to help Larry-Boy Back in the sewer, Larry-Boy finds the Mother Weed. The Mother Weed is a giant weed that grows on the rumors about Alfred that are spread by everyone. Larry-Boy heads on over to the Larry-mobile to find a weapon that can kill the Mother Weed, but Larry-Boy presses the wrong button which causes the weapon to malfunction. The Mother Weed then beats up Larry-Boy to the point of being defenseless and hurt. Back up on the surface of Bumblyburg, Alfred finds everyone scared of him and calling him a robot. When Alfred gets to city hall, an angry mob surrounds Alfred and calls him a dangerous robot. As everyone spreads the rumor, the Mother Weed comes out from the ground, grows around city hall, and takes Alfred in her grasp. Dad Asparagus watching, asks Junior and Laura what's going on. After Junior tells Dad that the weed has Alfred who is an evil robot that will take over the world. Asking where such harsh words came from, Dad hears that the weed told everyone. As Dad heads to the Mother Weed, she says that she got it from Junior and Laura. Dad then confronts the two kids and demands what made them say these rumors. They say that when Alfred said he had to recharge his batteries they assumed he was a robot. Dad says that what he says was a figure of speech. What Alfred really meant was that he was tired and needed to go home and rest. After Dad says that Alfred is a nice man, flowers bloom on the Mother Weed. Seeing what happened, Junior and Laura go to the angry mob and say that he Alfred isn't an evil robot, but a nice man. Everyone then begins to talk about the good deeds that Alfred has done for them. Soon, more flowers bloom over the Mother Weed, causing her to turn into a flower herself. Alfred is soon free and he forgives everyone for their wrong doing. Soon, Larry-Boy resurfaces from the sewers badly hurt and everyone gathers around him. Songs * Larry-Boy * The Rumor Weed Song Trivia * This is the first episode to be rendered entirely in Shepperton Studios. * This is the final LarryBoy episode to be released on VHS. * This is the last VeggieTales episode of the 1980s and 90s. * The "Nezzer's Clock" pattern appears on three characters' clothes. Specifically on Dad Carrot's shirt, a shirt on one of the Veggie extras, and on a dress of another of Veggie extras. * One of the Veggie extras was modeled after John Wahba who ironically enough voices Dad Carrot in the episode. Mike Nawrocki states this in the commentary of the episode. * The scene at the beginning involving Larry-Boy apprehending the Scallion was a concept originally intended to be part of the previous Larry-Boy episode, but it was cut due to time. * The original teaser trailer for this episode features some of the characters' voices in a lower pitch due to it still being in development at the time. It was never released, however, on the basis of it being deemed too frightening for kids. It was eventually included as an Easter Egg on the DVD re-release and can be accessed through the main menu. * This episode is shown in the 2015 action thriller film "Agent 47". * This was the first and only episode to feature a pumpkin. After this episode, due to all the different sorts of background Veggie characters (consisting of a bell pepper, a chili) having been hard to animate, Big Idea stated that if they ever do crowd scenes, they would all be peas and carrots (and of course, sometimes gourds and cucumbers) from now on. * When Larry is talking to the mayor of Bumblyburg on his phone, you'll notice there is no cord but an antenna. The reason for the antenna is because animating cords is difficult. * This is the first VeggieTales episode not to feature Bob. The poster with him and Larry in the back of the classroom was the only time he appeared. * This is also the first Larry-Boy episode that Madame Blueberry appears in. * This is the only episode to use the Rockwell font for the end credits of the 1980s. * This was the first episode Marc Vulcano worked on. * This video first premiered at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. * Stock footage from Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space! was used before cutting to Percy Pea being confronted by the Rumor Weed. * This is the only LarryBoy episode not to have the VeggieTales Theme. Instead, it is replaced with theLarry-Boy Theme Song for the opening intro. * Bob never got to know the rumor weed's secret because he never appeared in the episode. Instead, The poster with him and Larry in the back of the classroom was the only time he appeared. * This is the first episode not to have a Silly Song segment nor similar in the middle or end not counting the previous Larry-Boy episode, which had the Larry-Boy Theme Song as a substitute for the Silly Song after the closing countertop. ** This is the only original release to have the The Yodeling Veterinarian of the Alps between the Mr. Nezzer and Dad Carrot talking to the Weed and Alfred and Larry looked at Petunia. * In the sewer, where Larry-Boy presses the wrong button on his weapon and drops powder, it was considered at one point that Larry-Boy blows the powder on the Mother Weed, but it was later dropped to prevent making it look like Larry-Boy is snorting it. * Mike Asparagus is one of the few characters who did not believe Alfred was a robot. * This episode's release date is around the same time Big Idea began hiring employees. * Some international versions as well as the Slovenian dub replace The W's version of The Rumor Weed Song with an instrumental of the original version. Gallery Larry-BoyandtheRumorWeedVHScover.jpg|1999 VHS cover Larry-BoyandtheRumorWeed2000VHScover.jpg|1999 VHS cover Larry-BoyandtheRumorWeedDVDcover.jpg|2004 DVD cover Category:VeggieTales episodes Category:1990s home video releases Category:1999